New look for bandstand

5:20pm Tuesday 15th July 2008

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ONE of Swindon's most visited beauty spots is to get an unwanted new look - because of metal thieves.

In 2006, the Town Gardens bandstand was painstakingly restored by Swindon Council.

It is very sad that we are having to do this

Parks manager Martin Hambidge

It cost £90,000 to transform it and £10,000 of that went on lead, returning a period feel to the aging bandstand.

But in April thieves stripped the bandstand of its lead, in a well-planned raid.

Now Swindon Council has unveiled plans to cover the roof with weathered zinc, which is a cheaper metal and, it is hoped, not desirable to criminals.

"Before we carried out the restoration in 2006 the metal on the roof of the bandstand was of a fairly poor standard," said Martin Hambidge, the council's parks manager.

"Of course, historically it would have been lead so when we started work in 2006 to restore the venue, we went for a historically accurate material.

"Now the scrap market value of lead means it is worth much more."

Swindon has been repeatedly targeted by metal thieves this year. Manhole covers across the town were reported missing in January; a month later lead was stripped from the town's Hydrotherapy Centre for the third time in six months; and in March, Swindon Karting at Wroughton was the target. The following month the lead was lifted from Town Gardens.

Last week, the Adver told how Wiltshire Police had set up a special metal theft team.

Because the bandstand is a listed building, formal planning permission is required before the work can be done.

"It is very sad that we are having to do this," said Martin. "People won't notice any difference in colour.

"When we put the lead on it hadn't occurred to us that people might lift it. After all, there was no vehicle access to the site, the gates were locked and we are talking about the removal of several tons of very heavy metal."

He added: "We are not in a rush to do the job because we would have to close the bandstand and we don't want to do that during the summer.

"The plan is to do the work in the autumn when all the events are finished."